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ETO Technology News - December 2006 / January 2007 edition
3GSM World Congress coming
Returning to the spectacular Fira de Barcelona showground, in Montjuic, Barcelona for the second time, the 2007 3GSM World Congress will be held from the 12th to the 15th of February. 1,300 exhibitors in half a dozen large halls and the CEOs of every major player in the mobile telecoms industry make this the one must-go show of the year. As in 2006, there will be a dedicated mobile content zone, added to by a mobile entertainment area this year and 60,000 trade visitors are anticipated over the four days. There's also the Global Mobile Awards taking place, a new demonstration stage has been added and the 'Who's Attending' list is a veritable Who's-Who of mobile, including many well-known firms from the adult space; WAAT Media and Lechill being just two. Visit 3GSMWorldCongress.com for the latest updates.
Internext v2.0 set to stun
Starting just two days after the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo closes in Las Vegas, Internext will run from the 15th to 17th of January at the Mandalay Bay Resort. It's a tropical themed complex at the south end of the Vegas strip that will play host to an 'all new' Internext show format. Seminars, workshops and classes will compliment private 'deal making' suits and a hall with around fifty exhibitors showcasing their latest products and services for the adult industry. Billing, affiliate schemes and delivery services such as HotMovies are attending, Playboy's EVP Joe Lakey will be the keynote speaker and for those who like to mix work with play, there's a Poker tournament running with $10k in prizes too. PornPokerTour.com is the place for more info on that, and Internext-Expo.com will tell you more about the packed schedule of events at the show.
Private Media Group highlight wireless sales for success
Private, based in Barcelona, have reported Q3 results - Net sales are up 24% and Net income climbed an extra €1.1m. Combined broadcasting and wireless sales grew a massive 150% over the same three month period last year and now represent 46% of the business's total Net sales. New Media is cited as the clear growth area with broadcasting as a whole generating €2.4m in sales, primarily due to increased strategic focus on new media content distribution. Wireless leapt 157% to €0.6m for the period to the 30th of September, thanks to going live with going live with more international carriers. Internet sales rose 16% to €1.2m. Going forward, the company anticipates Internet, wireless and broadcasting revenue to increase significantly given the continued rapid growth of these platforms and Private's leading role in European and global adult entertainment.
CEO, President and Chairman of Private, Berth Milton said, "We're thrilled with the growth of our New Media business and we are extremely pleased that the strategy which we've embarked upon since I returned as CEO is paying off. Looking ahead, our aggressive approach to the exploding IPTV driven VOD market in Europe and Asia looks very promising, and we see the overall New Media Platforms significantly outperforming traditional linear low margin broadcasting. Going forward, we expect these high margin platforms to become dominant contributors to operating profit in our overall business model."
More Momo platform news
As buzzwords go, User Generated Content are three of the loudest, closely followed by Online Social Networking Communities. Tapping into this industry surge of interest is Activefone with their Momo offering, which works for mobiles too. As revealed elsewhere in this issue by Activefone COO Mark Watts, two well known brands have signed long term agreements to leverage the Momo platform to launch their UGC propositions.
Relish Films UK will be using the system for the first site of its kind, integrated into RelishFilms.com -who proudly display their ETO award on the opening page- and is set to launch shortly. It'll also be accessible via WAP and XHTML phones.
Using Momo to showcase their phone girls, AdultPhoneChat.com will be using the platform to offer clients UGC as well, and intend to upload video diaries of their voice talent regularly.
Adult Mobile gets into its Rhythm
Respond Mobile, specialists in adult mobile content and delivery technology have announced the launch of the world's first dedicated multi-channel adult mobile TV platform; Rhythm TV. Launch channels include some of the biggest names in adult TV as well as made-for-mobile channels.
Popular pan-European adult TV stations such as XXX TV and 100% Babes are part of the launch line-up. These stations are reedited by Respond Mobile so that they better suit the shorter viewing habits of mobile TV consumers. Respond Mobile has also commissioned the production of made-for-mobile TV stations, Candy Lounge; a magazine style channel and the signature exotic dance station, Rhythm.TV.
Will Rogers, Marketing Director for Respond Mobile, said, "Adult video has already helped mobile operators drive user adoption of mobile video services. In the same way adult mobile TV is expected to drive customer adoption of more general mobile TV services. Rhythm TV will therefore help mobile operators gain early return on investment for mobile TV implementation without the operator having to risk close brand association with adult TV services."
The Rhythm TV service includes some unique features suited to adult mobile TV such as fast forward, rewind and pause. Rhythm TV also allows viewers to restart the channel they were watching at the same place next time they view. The service also plays out in landscape mode on high end phones therefore utilising the full screen area giving and enhanced mobile TV experience. Rogers added, "Adult mobile is coming of age the launch of adult mobile TV will dramatically improve the user experience of the adult mobile consumer."
Mr Rogers further commented "The feedback we have had from mobile operators has been very encouraging and we will be announcing our first live service in January 2007. Further channel launches including globally recognised brands a gay channel and a user generated channel can also be expected at this time."
For more information on their service, contact Respond Mobile's Will Rogers via will@respondmobile.tv or call 07796 137 909
In related news - Mobestar Creates Made for Mobile TV Stations for Rhythm TV
Respond Mobile has announced that it has contracted with mobile content and community specialist Mobestar, to build two made for mobile adult erotic TV stations for its Rhythm TV platform.
Will Rogers, Marketing Director at Respond Mobile, commented, "We believe that the mobile TV experience can be enhanced by creating content specifically to compliment the attributes of mobile phones. We selected Mobestar as our partner due to the high quality of their content production and their strong capabilities in this area."
Mobestar's CEO Peter Richards said, "Mobestar welcomes the launch of Rhythm TV which also coincides with our first major customers for our community based products and services. Our ability to make content specifically for the mobile phone as well as developing profile centric applications make our offering ideal for the adult market "
Candy Lounge is positioned as "the Gentlemen's club" on your mobile and will offer wide ranging content from topless cocktail making to topless golf lessons. Rhythm TV's signature station will specialise in erotic dance content.
3's X-Series is set to bring true flat rate Internet services to mobile. The company is calling X-Series the "beginning of the internet via mobile broadband", for which it has the support of major online names.
3 customers will be able to make unlimited calls from their mobile using Skype, watch their home TV via their mobile using Sling, access their home PC -and video files on it- remotely using Orb and have search and IM services from Yahoo!, Windows Live Messenger and Google.
X-Series will be priced like fixed line broadband, offering services free at the time of use, for a flat fee. It will be available in the UK from December 1st and in 3's other markets around the world in early 2007. The global launch of the X-Series from 3 is being made possible by the first two handsets that will support this full range of services: the Nokia N73 and the Sony Ericsson W950i.
Group MD of Hutchison Whampoa, Canning Fok, said: "This is the internet as it was meant to be and what people have been waiting for. Mobile broadband is the natural next step for mobile services, extending the full power of the internet to mobile handsets. By partnering with the leaders of the internet and the leading handset makers, the X-Series from 3 will give everyone access to more of what they want, when they want it, and however much of it they want, all free when they use it." Sounds an ideal proposition for the adult industry.
X-Series access overturns the traditional telephony model of charging per minute, per message, per click, per event and per megabyte. Instead, fees will include 'all-you-can' Skype, all-you-can chat by IM and all-you-can search and browse. There will initially be an additional access fee for customers who also take higher-bandwidth services like Sling and Orb.
Can this be right? The Internet is 99% Porn-Free
A study by Philip B. Stark, a professor of statistics at the University of California, Berkeley, has found that pornography accounts for just one per cent of all web pages. The study was carried out after the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) took the US government to court over the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. The US Department of Justice commissioned the study as part of its attempt to get the Supreme Court to accept restrictions on internet use.
"One of the things we think came out of the government's study is that the chance of running into graphic content on the web when filters are on is extremely low,'' Catherine Crump, staff attorney at the ACLU, told the San José Mercury News, which obtained a copy of the report. Stark found that around six percent of searches referred to sites with sexual content, but suggested that this was mainly due to the high number of searches on sex-related topics.
Where blocking technology was used it tended to block such sites fairly effectively, but at the cost of blocking a lot of sites that had no sexual content at all. In order to help with the study the US Department of Justice attempted to get search providers to hand over search histories of their users. When Google refused earlier this year, in a move still regarded as illegal by many it was taken to court and forced to hand over 50,000 random web page contents from its index.
Blu-ray and HD-DVD both get the thumbs up by Vivid
Arguably the largest makers of Adult DVDs in the world, Vivid Entertainment have announced their first Next-gen HD release will be in the Blu-ray format early next year. However, Vivid CEO Steve Hirsch also said that he'd be releasing other films on the HD-DVD format, so at least for now, the final decision still isn't made.
He's quoted as saying, "As of now, it will just be Blu-ray. But that's not to say we won't release it in HD-DVD later. Blu-ray seems to have the momentum. But we're not in the business of picking winners. We will produce content for all [popular] formats."
It's often said the pornographic film industry are recognised as significant drivers of new technology, and because of this its position in the format war will be significant. However, by hedging its bets in the blue laser optical disc stand-off, more consumers can buy their product and it may yet be the Blu-ray-equipped Playstation3 and plug-in HD-DVD drive for the Xbox 360 which are the fulcrum over which the fates of the formats are balanced. However, on paper it does seem Blu-ray has taken an early lead, at least in the adult sector.
Ride the Apple, but mind the 'Pods
Former computer giant, now entertainment and computer giant Apple has set its sights on the world of 'Adult Toys'. Not as a potential manufacturer though, but rather because more are appearing which are in danger of copyright infringement at worst, and piggyback marketing at best. Apple are said to be particularly miffed that the makers of the 'gPod' have worked out a way of 'plug and playing' into its iPod so that the device vibrates in time to the music, something it has in common with the conceptually similar OhMiBod.
The Mainichi Daily News says that Ichiro Kameda is the president of a two-man company in Osaka, Japan that plans to market the gPod and its sister product the Jii, 'inspired' by Nintendo's new Wii console, has been stymied by legal rows. Kameda is reported to have said that it is mostly to do with the product's beat generator which is a small device with three different, sound-activated motors. You can plug it in to iPods, other media players or mobile phones. It can also be programmed to operate only for certain voices. The Japanese Patent Agency gave him the right to use the gizmo in August last year, and the trademark he chose for the product was approved two months later. Then the Apple brief showed up and told him he could not call it a gPod. More news on PodWars when we have it.
Porn can give you worms
Online security firm Websense has warned of adult video clips on MySpace pages which look as if they come from YouTube. In fact the films are hosted by the website yootube.info. When they are played the videos try to get the user to install the 'Zango Cash Toolbar' adware program via a Windows Media Player dialogue box. The clip can only be viewed if the user agrees to the installation.
The trust that many web users have in MySpace and YouTube is being exploited by the misleading domain yootube.info to install unwanted software onto their computers. This appears to represent a new trend. Wikipedia's reputation is also currently being exploited by criminals to infiltrate malware.
It is to be anticipated that fraudulent websites will increasingly use such social engineering approaches to snag their victims and infiltrate not just adware, but also spyware and trojans. The 'Zango Cash Toolbar' adware program installed in this case -formally known as 180Solutions- is of the more harmless variety. It merely opens a number of pop-ups each day. The website operators responsible for the toolbar installation receive money from Zango based on the number of installations.
The company was recently ordered to pay a $3m fine for distributing adware. From now on, Zango can only install its program with the user's express consent. This consent is apparently now to be obtained using the active support of the porn industry.
PasswordByPhone.com finds it's a Wasteland out there
Popular BDSM site Wasteland.com has signed with international phone payment specialist PasswordByPhone.com to monetize traffic from countries with negligible credit card penetration. Wasteland CEO Colin Rowntree said of the agreement, "For us, it is important to communicate with such surfers in their own native language. PasswordByPhone's powerful geo-IP technology in 37 languages allows us to achieve this objective [while] handing us and our affiliates a brand-new revenue stream at the same time."
He continued, "I was also impressed with their international infrastructure, having existing billing platforms in countries that have, to date, been out of the realm of traditional internet billing."
Regarding the time period between start-up and revenue increase, Rowntree commented, "I would love to have an immediate, healthy revenue stream, but having spent the past 12 years on the Web with Wasteland.com, I know that sometimes it is good to be patient and see what comes to fruition. PasswordByPhone appears to be one of the 'long game' players that is willing to devote the time, energy, and money into these markets, and I am happy to sit back and watch what they can do over the next year."
'Sofa' IPTV takes a big-name step forward.
By the end of 2006, TiVo digital video recorders will be able to receive on-demand video programming from the Internet. TiVo Chief Executive Tom Rogers says, "Broadband video is growing rapidly on the Web, but the television will continue to be the key way viewers want to watch video. Our overall goal is to provide as many types of content in as many formats to be displayed on the television through TiVo."
The technology sees videos downloaded and automatically converted into the Mpeg-2 video compression format so the videos can be viewed on televisions and searchable via TiVo boxes. QuickTime, Windows Media Video, and Mpeg-4 video formats will be supported.
However, it's not all good news for the consumer as the new TiVo programming only will work with downloaded videos which aren't copyright protected. Feature films and videos purchased from online stores such as Apple's iTunes Store and Movielink will not be supported. Therefore the system will be limited to watching user-generated video clips, at least at first.
The new technology will require an upgrade to TiVo Desktop, a software package that lets Windows users transfer their favourite programming back and forth between their computers and their televisions. The upgrade will be free for existing users and $24.95 for new users.
In a nutshell this is how the TiVo download system will work: TiVo users go directly to One True Media's website. One True Media is an online video-sharing provider that has partnered with TiVo to provide the new service. At One True Media's site, TiVo users can invite other TiVo users to subscribe to their private video channels. The videos then show up under the "Homemade Movies" category in the "TiVoCast" section.
Comcast Corp., America's largest cable provider, also is planning its own website to meet the on-demand download demand. According to Comcast, the requests would go through the system's own cable boxes. Other mainstream cable and satellite companies are working to provide similar services, and adult content providers are expected to follow suit.
Zero tolerance for Pirated Zero Tolerance
Well known adult film label Zero Tolerance has filed a $15m copyright-infringement lawsuit in an LA federal court against the operators of AdultsAllowed.com. The suit claims the site operators illegally copied nearly one hundred of its film titles, in violation of federal copyright laws, and made them available for download. Officials at AdultsAllowed.com were not available for comment on the accusations.
The suit, which was filed by the company's legal counsel, Clyde DeWitt, asserts that AdultsAllowed.com permitted the downloading of Zero Tolerance titles without the company's consent. Zero Tolerance has licensing agreements with other video-on-demand websites.
Greg Alves, Zero Tolerance's President said, "I have said it before, and I will keep saying it until all these pirates listen. Zero Tolerance has zero tolerance for piracy and counterfeiting. It is unfair for our loyal customers for us to stand by and allow this sort of blatant piracy to remain unchecked, not to mention the damage it exacts on our company."
DeWitt added that the site is especially harmful to the company because it's not a streaming service where users can merely watch the videos, but it's one that allows users to download the material and copy it onto DVD discs if they wished. "People think counterfeiting in connection with three-dimensional products such as wrist watches, but there is no reason that the anti counterfeiting law cannot be applied to electronic products with equal force," says DeWitt.
The lawsuit also includes a claim for counterfeiting, which under federal law, allows plaintiffs to collect up to $1m for each trademark intentionally associated with a counterfeit product. Additionally Zero Tolerance has a separate copyright infringement lawsuit filed against Florida-based Movixo.
IBill? GoodbyeBill
One-time cornerstone of adult online payment processing, IBill seems to have finally shuffled off the radar. Their iBill.com homepage had been replaced by G-SpotNews, which seems to have no connection with the former site. Reportedly iBill's parent company -Interactive Brand Development- have had their 'SEC filing' phone number disconnected and president Gary Spaniak Jr. and CEO Steve Markley were both unavailable for comment on these latest developments.
In their latest SEC filing, IBD posted a basic net loss of $105.6m for the three months ending June 30, 2006. In March, iBill outsourced its payment processing to Etelegate, an offshore processor specialising in high-risk processing. Calls to Etelegate revealed only an automated system which cycles callers through a loop, offering to cancel a transaction by asking for credit card, bank account, or transaction numbers.
IBill's problems first surfaced in late 2004, when the company's bank, First Data Merchant Services, decided not to renew iBill's contract, thus crippling iBill's ability to process transactions. Ultimately, it was webmasters who felt the brunt of iBill's alleged mismanagement and it was they who signalled the company's impending demise. Although re-bills and client data were still going through iBill, which was managed by Care Concepts in 2004, no one was getting paid.
In early 2005, IBD appeared on the scene while trying to acquire Penthouse, which along with iBill was a subsidiary of Care Concepts. In what appeared to be an unwanted acquisition, Spaniak says that in order for his company to buy Penthouse, IBD was forced to take on iBill or lose a $20 million investment in the publishing company. IBD initially began paying back some of the money owed to webmasters and appeared to be moving forward with iBill in good faith. Spaniak claimed that $30 million in past-due funds were paid back to webmasters.
More Brittany Ferry than Britney Spears
Having kept a relatively low profile, while quickly growing to overtake its famous name inspiration, video-sharing site PornoTube.com exploded into the public consciousness in November thanks to a XXX clip allegedly showing Ms Spears. The news generated an unprecedented number of visitors to the adult site, many looking for the 19 second video which, it was claimed, showed Britney performing oral sex on soon-to-be-ex husband Kevin Federline. He's best known as a dancer, commercially unsuccessful rapper and Mr Britney Spears, and it was suggested the clip had come from a 'celebrity sex video' he'd shot of the misses earlier in their rocky relationship.
According to PornoTube, it's not known who tipped-off celebrity gossip sites and bloggers. However, the post resulted in an influx of traffic unlike any previously has experienced by the adult-orientated site. "[On] Wednesday afternoon we were being inundated with phone calls and emails from news organisations wanting information on the video," said a spokesperson in a press release from PornoTube. "We were concentrating on keeping the website operational not on answering media questions."
The poor-quality-video clip, which already has been "favourited" more than 2,000 times, is believed to be a hoax, according to PornoTube. Adult site Fleshbot has embedded an extended copy of the clip along with the statement denouncing the video as a fake, but does state that the actress in the clip closely resembles the pop star. A user poll (now closed) asking viewers if they believed the clip's star is the recently single pop-singing celebrity and K-Fed showed nearly half the respondents believed it was Spears, while the other half clicking 'No, it's not her; the real Britney would give a much better blowjob than that.'
PornoTube.com allows for owners of erotic materials to upload and share video clips, photos and audio. Similar in concept, but not content, to YouTube, the site allows visitors to browse and search for adult content. According to the company, Wednesday's massive traffic helped garner significant attention to the five-month-old site. A recent inspection failed to find the clip in question amongst many copycat videos on the site, and it is possible it's been removed.